Mirror, mirror, on the fence...

Our house is a corner plot with a big, somewhat overlooked, front garden and a teeny, tiny, triangular back yard. When we first got the house, it was a tip, a dumping ground really with hardcore and rubble on the ground and just generally horrid. Bit by bit we've done it up. First the ground was levelled, then the fences painted, then beds made and plants planted. This week Mr Sabs has been really busy putting down gravel as a finishing touch. Initially we thought of using white gravel to make the area appear brighter but when we went shopping, they'd run out so we got a few bags of "Mellow Cotswold" - a creamy-goldy-yellow, which when laid down, made the whole back garden look not only brighter but warmer. Good thing, given the awful British weather of late!

We have a raised fern bed (just out of shot in the photo above) and herbs in pots along one fence and a bed with climbers (including clematis, grapes and morning glory), camelias, evening primrose and euphorbia to name but a few along the other. The house makes up the third side of the triangle.

I'm not sure how well you can see them all in the next photo, but my favourite idea has been to hang old, random mirrors along one fence, again to reflect the sunlight and make the space seem lighter and bigger than it actually is. And it works!

There are mirrors at the bottom along the back of the bed too!

The aim of all the bamboo cane structures (see the arch?) is to grow roses up high so that we're not overlooked. We've chosen a couple of fast growing, nicely scented and coloured roses (which haven't been planted out yet) - Crimson Glory and Crown Princess Maragreta, both David Austins that I fell in love with.

So now, we have a serene, private area to sit and relax in, which when the roses are out in bloom, will hopefully smell heavenly too!